{"id":13329,"date":"2021-05-06T19:44:31","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T19:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/06\/air-force-begins-clearing-b-1bs-to-fly-as-safety-inspections-continue\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:17:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:17:44","slug":"air-force-begins-clearing-b-1bs-to-fly-as-safety-inspections-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/05\/06\/air-force-begins-clearing-b-1bs-to-fly-as-safety-inspections-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force begins clearing B-1Bs to fly as safety inspections continue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force is beginning to return B-1B bombers to the air after grounding the entire fleet last month to investigate a fuel system issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some Lancers resumed flight operations Monday, about two weeks after Air Force Global Strike Command ordered the fleet of 57 aircraft to stand down for safety inspections. The service declined to say how many were cleared for flight, citing operational sensitivities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIndividual B-1B aircraft will return to flight as inspections and maintenance directed during the stand-down are completed on each aircraft,\u201d Global Strike said in a release Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At issue is the bomber\u2019s fuel filter, which keeps contaminants out of the fuel tank. An aircraft emergency at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, on April 8 led the Air Force to find a hole leaking fuel, which jeopardized the bomber\u2019s ability to fly, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedrive.com\/the-war-zone\/40282\/all-b-1b-bombers-have-been-grounded\">The War Zone first reported<\/a>. That led the service to ground the fleet in search of further problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/04\/23\/entire-b-1b-bomber-fleet-grounded-over-fuel-pump-filter-housing-problem\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/223268.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Entire B-1B bomber fleet grounded over fuel pump filter housing problem<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Air Force Global Strike Command indefinitely grounded the service\u2019s 57 active B-1B Lancers amid safety concerns April 20.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMaintenance depot personnel disassembled the augmenter fuel filter housing and performed a series of robust inspections using the latest techniques,\u201d including X-rays and blue-light tools, Global Strike said. \u201cAfter each unit was determined to be free of defects, it was reassembled, pressure-checked, and returned to service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Global Strike spokesperson Lt. Col. Will Russell declined to say how many aircraft were found to have the fuel filter issue so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe aircraft are still safe to fly and we are confident that this stand-down has resulted in increased safety within the B-1B fleet,\u201d Maj. Gen. Mark Weatherington, the commander responsible for the bomber force under 8th Air Force, added in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">USAF has grounded the entire B-1 fleet multiple times in the past few years, as the bombers have taken on major wear and tear after years flying combat missions in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to Ellsworth, B-1Bs are based at Dyess AFB, Texas, with a major maintenance shop at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. They no longer have a permanent presence in the Middle East, but still regularly fly to Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific. Lancers carry non-nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/02\/18\/the-bone-heads-to-the-boneyard\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/223268.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The \u2018Bone\u2019 heads to the boneyard<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Air Force retired the first of 17 B-1 bombers planned to be divested as part of the fiscal 2021 budget.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the B-1s temporarily unable to fly, and six B-52s assigned to provide air cover for American troops withdrawing from Afghanistan, that leaves the B-2 fleet and the remaining B-52s available for missions. That\u2019s not a problem, the Air Force says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is zero operational impact providing bomber task force support to combatant commands across the globe,\u201d Russell said. \u201cAir Force Global Strike bombers will continue to support anytime, anywhere if called upon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Air Forces Central spokesperson Capt. Carrie Volpe said she\u2019s not aware of any changes to bomber patrols in the region as a result of the fleet restrictions. Pacific Air Forces did not immediately comment on any impacts to bombers in the area; U.S. Air Forces in Europe spokesperson 2nd Lt. Charis Bryan declined to discuss operational specifics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mark Gunzinger, a retired Air Force colonel who serves as the director of future concepts and capability assessments at the Air Force Association\u2019s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, expects bomber task force operations are sustainable even with the current number of available aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Air Force\u2019s bomber [primary mission aerospace vehicle inventory] is now 86 aircraft. This is a new all-time low,\u201d he said in an email. \u201cThere could be a problem if the Afghan mission should grow significantly and then last for a long period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That could prompt the Air Force to scale back bomber patrols, then training and maintenance to keep planes available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou can only do so much with so little,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Air Force is beginning to return B-1B bombers to the air after grounding the entire fleet April 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"10":{"categories":["air","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"air"}}},"categories":[101,24,88,16,26,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3392],"class_list":["post-13329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"T3D4SEC5DFGTZGXMYGAQTQYUGM","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/05\/06\/air-force-begins-clearing-b-1bs-to-fly-as-safety-inspections-continue\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Air Force begins clearing B-1Bs to fly as safety inspections continue - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Air Force is beginning to return B-1B bombers to the air after grounding the entire fleet April 20.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Air Force begins clearing B-1Bs to fly as safety inspections continue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Air Force is beginning to return B-1B bombers to the air after grounding the entire fleet April 20.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/05\/06\/air-force-begins-clearing-b-1bs-to-fly-as-safety-inspections-continue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Air Force TImes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-06T19:44:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T20:17:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel S. 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